


How do you become an Elemental?

by ii_LunarMoon



Category: Original Work
Genre: Angst, Character Death, Multi, PTSD, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, entirely oc fic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-26
Updated: 2020-04-26
Packaged: 2021-03-02 04:47:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,295
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23859292
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ii_LunarMoon/pseuds/ii_LunarMoon
Summary: How do you become an Elemental?It’s a multi-step process.(the quotes are from these songs, in order. they’re all alternative. fight me.)- Time to Dance (Panic! At the Disco)- My Blood (Twenty One Pilots)- Centuries (Fall Out Boy)- forest lmao ;) (Twenty One Pilots)- Lonely (Palaye Royale)- The Kids From Yesterday (My Chemical Romance)- Sleep (My Chemical Romance)- Holiday (Green Day)
Relationships: Kya Arika & Nyssa Arika, Kya Arika & Taka Sannay, buncha others i’m too lazy to name
Comments: 9
Kudos: 3





	How do you become an Elemental?

How do you become an Elemental?

Step one. You discover your powers.

You discover your powers one morning when you’re young, barely six. Frost covers your fingertips and patches of ice cover your cheeks. Your parents weep with joy, proud of their little ice-wielding girl. Your twin sister Nyssa pouts with envy, but the feeling washes away when an icicle shoots out of her palms a day later.

Your parents buy the two of you ice cream cake to celebrate, and the taste is cool on your tongue. Nyssa shoves a handful of cake into her mouth, causing you to giggle, and the frosting turns her nose blue. Your father smiles and washes the dessert off of her face with a stream of water from his fingertips. You whine at your mom when she freezes the rest of the cake over and puts it away. As a six year old, it’s hard for you to understand that too much cake is bad. But you stop whining when your mom tells you that you can have more tomorrow.

Tomorrow comes, but you never get the cake.

-§-

**“have some composure, where is your posture?**

**oh, no, no; you’re pulling the trigger, pulling the trigger, all wrong”**

Step two. You meet the Asagao.

It’s dinnertime. Nyssa bounces in her seat, eager to finish dinner so she can finish the cake. You argue over who gets to eat the bigger slice, painfully oblivious to the scene going on outside. You stop your quarreling when you realize that the food’s been sitting on the stove for far too long and your mom still isn’t back from the garden to tend to it. Nyssa gets up to turn off the stove with her small hands and you run outside to find your mom. You find her backed against your deck, a strange man standing over her with a blade in his hands. Your dad is next to her, but his eyes aren’t open.

You ask your mom what’s happening, and she tells you to take your sister and run. The sinister look on the man’s face and the fear in her voice gets you running into the kitchen and grabbing your twin’s wrist before she can question anything. You’re only six, but you know you should get as far away as possible, darting into the woods. You don’t hear the yells as your mom battles against the man, and you don’t hear as your parents collapse under a roof of fire.

You and Nyssa make it into an old treehouse. The wood gives you splinters, but the two of you don’t care. You curl up in the corner and hope it was all a dream.

-§-

 **”you’re** **facin' down a dark hall** **; i’ll** **grab my light;**

**and go with you”**

Step three. Make allies.

You’re still in the treehouse and your stomach is growling loudly. Judging by Nyssa’s whimpering, she’s hungry too. But you’re both too scared to go back to your house and face the strange man. You still don’t know that it burned down, and you won’t until years later.

Light fills the creaky treehouse when someone opens the door. A little boy, maybe five, and his older brother, looking around ten years older poke their heads inside.

”Are you okay?” The older boy asks immediately, offering a hand to the two girls. The younger boy hides behind his leg.

Nyssa shakes her head quietly and leans towards him, but you stop her with suspicion in your eyes. What if this person was working with the other man? You didn’t want to risk it. “Who are you?”

”I’m Misagao Sannay. This is my little brother, Taka,” he replies, and the warmth in his voice is enough to make you give in.

They take you back to their small apartment. Their mom quickly makes some sandwiches for you and your sister, a three year old Hikori on her hip. She sits you two down after you eat and get cleaned off, and she explains everything. The man was part of the Asagao: an organization that aims to eliminate all Elementals. Elementals were people like you who could also control magic. According to her, the man was trying to get your parents to join the ‘bad side’. They must have refused.

You ask how she knows all of this, and with a flick of her wrist, a jet of air blasts out of her palms. She’s had her own experience with the Asagao.

”That’s not fair! They can’t go around hurting people,” Nyssa protests, but all Mrs. Sannay does is shake her head sadly. “But they do,” she sighs, and Nyssa looks down.

She lets the two of you to stay at her house. You ask why she can’t just drive you back home. All you get is another shake of the head and a pitiful look in her eyes. You don’t think much of the expression on her face.

You will continue to receive those pitying glances until you die.

Mrs. Sannay puts rules into place while you stay. It’s a long list, and there’s only two that you remember: Don’t use your powers in public and don’t go looking for the Asagao.

You don’t like these rules, but you nod your head vigorously because you’re only six and this woman gave you a home.

-§-

**“we are the poisoned youth”**

Step four. You get a taste of revenge.

Six years pass and your want to find who killed your parents becomes stronger than your want to be a rule follower. Every day you itch of finding out which Asagao member did the deed. You and Nyssa’s twelfth birthday approaches soon, and you’re tired of waiting this long.

The Sannay parents don’t know who did it, and they won’t try to find out. You’ve come to realize that the Sannay parents don’t want to fight, only avoid and hide. They’re not battlers like your parents were. The more you ask, the more pitying glances and “I’m sorry”s you receive. 

Misagao only shrugs and tells you that his parents won’t let him when you ask if he can find out.

Taka is open to the idea of searching. Maybe it’s because he’s eleven like you are. He understands how you think.

Your bed is empty on your birthday, and the window is wide open.

-§-

**“MY TREEHOUSE IS ON FIRE AND FOR SOME REASON I SMELL GAS ON MY HANDS” ;)**

Misagao finds you nearby your old house. You’re seconds away from spotting the ashes of your house before he grabs you from behind. Instinctively you shoot ice at his face, but he breaks through it easily. You won’t be able to create sturdy ice until much later.

You ask him why he’s stopping you, and he asks you why you’re running away from safety. You don’t know how to respond. Frost creeps up your hands like they normally do when you’re annoyed.

”I just want to know who hurt them,” you answer calmly with practiced coldness, hiding your hands, “you’d be curious too if it were your parents.” Misagao gives you that damned pitiful look again. You’re getting sick of that look.

Misagao doesn’t know how to answer your retort. He settles for silence.

You return to the house without resisting because you know Misagao is stronger than you. Mrs. Sannay is panicking because she lost both of you on the same day. You ask what she means by both, and she gestures towards Nyssa’s empty bed. Funny, you both had the same idea on the same day. 

Misagao goes out to find Nyssa and Mrs. Sannay forces you to stay behind. But the moment she turns her back on you, you run out the door. You don’t realize Taka is following you until you notice the wind is much stronger than it should be. You‘re prepared to fight him, but he puts his hands up in surrender.

”I’m curious, too. I’m not gonna stop you.”

Together, the two of you run to the treehouse. You had a gut feeling that Nyssa was there, looking for answers.

The treehouse isn’t the way you remember it. It’s glowing red and orange, flames crawling up the side of the old wood. You can faintly hear someone yelling.

You freeze. A man is standing in front of the treehouse, and he’s wearing the same sinister smile you saw six years ago. He turns towards you and Taka.

You’re close to punching him right then and there when you hear the shouting again. It’s coming from inside the treehouse. You glance at the window and see your twin sister inside. You demand an answer, and the man only laughs.

”Your sister gave the wrong response. Just like your parents did.”

He must have found Nyssa as she was looking for clues, you note somewhere in the back of your head. But you’re not thinking clearly.

Desperately you shoot ice into the fire, but it looks like the flames are just getting bigger. The treehouse collapses and so do you.

You wake up and Taka is crying next to your bedside.

-§-

 **“so sick and tired of being alone,** **so** **long, farewell, i’m on my own”**

Step five. Learn how to cope with loss.

It’s a step nobody wants to do, but everyone has to deal with at some point. It’s just part of the process. 

Nyssa was your best friend, as well as the only remaining family you had left. Nobody but Taka, who sits at your bedside, can give you any comfort. All you get are pitiful looks from the rest of the family.

You’re really fucking tired of those looks.

Too tired to cry anymore, you lie on your mattress, only getting up to use the bathroom and eat food. You feel physically and mentally sick. Some days you wonder why you were spared and Nyssa was not.

You spend two months wasting away in your room until Taka snaps you out of it by handing you a letter.

”I don’t fucking want it,” you hiss at him coldly, but he doesn’t back away. He’s stubborn like that.

He tells you it’s a letter to a school called Elemental High, and it’s full of people like you. People with magic they can’t control yet. It’s for all ages so it’s never too late to attend, he says. You vaguely remember Misagao starting to attend a year ago.

“You want to know how to fight and get revenge for her? Attend with me. We’ll be able to fight back properly,” Taka adds, and you give in. You want nothing more than to murder that man. You’re only twelve, but the desire to fight is irresistible. And it’s better than rotting away on your mattress. You grab your choker made out of a kite string you and Nyssa had made years ago and slowly get up.

-§-

**“well now this could be last of all the rides we take; so hold on tight and don't look back”**

Step six. You attend the school.

You’re thirteen now, and you’re walking to Elemental High with Taka and Hikori at your side. Misagao is a few meters in front of you, talking with his own friends. One of them, a girl with reddish-pink hair and a smile too cheerful for your comfort walks over to you and introduces herself.

”I’m Ruby Erena. Glad to see you’re finally attending! I’m a Water Elemental here. What’s your Element?”

You don’t quite know how to respond, so you simply hold up a hand and let her watch as frost crawls up your fingertips. A small part of you swells with pride when the rest of Misagao’s friends erupt into gasps. A boy named A.J. even tells you that you’ve got immense potential. You will realize later that they were only doing that to make you feel comfortable. 

Misagao shows you around the school during recess. You secretly think it’s cool everyone seems to know him in the hallways, but you don’t tell him that because you’re stubborn. He laughs when you accidentally slam into his girlfriend Seyra and cause icicles to shoot out of your hands out of surprise. You hide behind a giggling Taka. Seyra claps you on the back and tells you it’s fine. Her smile is comforting.

You go on your first mission. It’s only a D-Ranked scouting mission, but you feel proud nonetheless. You’re assigned to travel with one of Misagao’s friends, a Crystal/Glass Element named Aster. He tells you more about Ruby, who you find out is his girlfriend. The mission is nice and easy, and there’s no blood on either of your hands when the mission ends. 

You quickly learn the reason why everyone knows Misagao and his friends. They’re a talented bunch, the stars of the school. You’re lucky to know them personally, says everyone. Taka beams with pride when he’s compared to his brother.

Misagao teaches you the basics: how to use your Element, how to conserve your stamina, and what to do if you lose control. Aster teaches you that speed is a weapon. If you can get to them before they blink, the power of their attacks don’t matter, he tells you. Ruby shows you how best to wrap an effective tourniquet and the vital parts of the body. A.J. signs to you every day, slowing teaching you ASL and how best to use it on a stealth mission. 

Seyra teaches you how to shoot a bazooka and how to shoot five guns at once. She also teaches you which guns are “the most fucking rad”. She’s got the best accuracy you’ve ever seen with any weapon, and can throw a stick into a bull’s eye from fifty meters back. She also teaches you every swear word she knows.

You have no idea what she’s doing, and you never learn anything other than dirty innuendos and an unholy vocabulary, but she’s a respected killing machine in the school as well as Misagao’s girlfriend so you try to follow her instructions anyways.

-§-

**“some say now suffer all the children and walk away a savior; or a madman and polluted  
from gutter institutions”**

Step seven. Learn how to be a leader.

Three years pass and you watch the total number of classmates you have drop. You’re seventeen. You and Taka have been forced to take on missions that only the elite seniors and even college students do. The two of you, along with your classmates, try your best to finish them.

It’s never enough.

The school was once a normal school, but now classes are quickly getting replaced with magic training and drills. Freshmen are forced to go on B-ranked scouting missions. They don’t even know how to use their Elements properly. You watch them die like flies. 

It’s all because the Asagao has suddenly gotten a spike in productivity. They’re making new weapons, getting new members, and they’ve found a way to change the layout of the base using Earth Elementals. Infiltration is harder than ever. 

Every single senior is gone. Completely eradicated. They were picked off one by one. Even the supposed star students of the school are gone. Misagao and Seyra perished defending the borders. A.J. was killed on a scouting mission. Ruby committed suicide, unable to handle all the sudden losses.

Aster went missing shortly after Ruby died. A large pile of Asagao members was discovered the day he disappeared, their faces unrecognizable and coated in red. You remember finding a bloody pair of black gloves discarded in the grass, as well as what looked like a torn fedora. You never gave the items a second thought.

Taka’s eyes are dull, and his smiles are less genuine, now. They have been since Misagao died. You’ve never left his side since. It’s a dark period for both of you. But eventually, the two of you learn to move on.

You don’t forget, and you don’t forgive. 

You train with Taka relentlessly. Your hatred for the teachers and school grows when they say that all hope is lost. You nearly punch the principal when she says that the school is doomed because “nobody could be stronger than those fallen star students”.

The teachers agree with the principal and you can tell they lost hope in winning the war because they start to treat you and your classmates like garbage. They stop caring, and shut down all missions because they think fighting back is futile. They’re on the verge of surrendering. You fight to keep the Elemental race alive.

You’re almost never home because you use the evening to spar. You get stronger and become a fearsome opponent in battle. You and Taka fight to open up missions again, and you gain a reputation amongst the student body for being the newest star students.

Among the teachers, you’re called a rebellious delinquent. But they open missions anyway because they’re sick of the finely made ice sculpture of a middle finger that keeps appearing in the teacher’s lounge. 

You don’t get those pitying looks anymore. Now, you get looks of respect and admiration from the other students. You always try to grin back at them and hide the feeling in your stomach when you watch the numbers in your class dwindle again.

You and Taka gain your own group of friends. They’re very skilled in combat, and they’re equally parts rebellious. 

Aspen Leverett is your partner in a lot of missions, and he’s infamous for his vines that he uses as whips. His eyes are tired, and he looks like a corpse, but he’s got a fighting spirit underneath the exhaustion. He’s witty and clever, and he’s just like the Elemental snakes he controls. You become friends with him because he threw a bible at someone who said that being genderfluid was a sin. He’s sixteen and frequently calls you an old geezer. You call him a corpse.

Reyna Navarra is known for her fast assassinations and a black leather gas mask is her symbol. Her scythe is deadly. You get compared all the time to her, because she’s the other female star student and you’re the same age. Everyone expects the two of you to fight each other for the title of strongest female student. You rightfully piss everyone off by making her your ally. Somehow. You’re not really sure how that worked.

Noah Nirvan and Kris Nirvan are siblings that cannot be separated. You found them on the streets after their sister got kidnapped by the Asagao, and they’ve been somewhat devoted to you since.

Kris is only ten, and she’s sweet and bubbly, with shining blue eyes and blonde hair. She always makes a bright display of flashing lights when she sees you.

Noah is quieter, and takes some time to open up to you. He’s sixteen and seems troubled to you. He doesn’t look very similar to Kris unless you look closely. He’s got chestnut-colored hair and odd cream-colored eyes. You don’t learn his Element until he snaps in a training session and traps everyone in the Realm. You learn he has a strange case of schizophrenia that causes his Element to go haywire at times. Some students avoid him after that, but you only keep him closer.

You and your crew work to make the missions safer and more organized. You learn to predict the Asagao’s movements better so you can avoid sudden attacks like the one that took Misagao’s life. You begin to see some progress being made, and the Asagao’s productivity slows. Your name is on the most wanted list, but you never let them capture you for brainwashing. You’re too stubborn for that.

Misagao's voice rings in your ears.

_Never let them take you alive._


End file.
